


The Mystery of Stolen Goods

by quin12



Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:07:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1952670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quin12/pseuds/quin12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis and Nick are detectives working a cold case together, and somehow they also work out their feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mystery of Stolen Goods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [princessbumlinson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessbumlinson/gifts).



> My prompt asked for a zoo date, which incidentally turned into a detective AU of sorts. Either way I hope my recipient likes it!

It’s the end of a long week and Louis just wants to go home. Nick was assigned to work a case with him and he couldn’t be more annoyed about it. Usually he’s paired up with Liam, who is painful to work with because all he wants to do is follow the rules. But he’d take Liam over Nick any day. For one, Liam doesn’t go on and on about the new XX album on the way to the victim’s house. Liam doesn’t use obnoxious hair product that stinks up the entire car. And Liam most definitely doesn’t try to get a rise out of Louis at every possible moment.

Nick and Louis were assigned to the Emmerdale case, which Louis thinks is an opportunity to further his career. On the other hand, the first thing Nick said when they heard of their assignment was, “Well it’s been nice knowing you Lou, but after a few weeks go by without solving this, they’re gonna let us go. They give the unsolvable ones to the weaklings and get their excuse to give us the slip.” He then patted Louis’ shoulder, gave the world’s most condescending grimace, and walked away. 

Louis was way more concerned about having to put up with Nick whilst solving the case that was guaranteed to put him in the running for a promotion, so he didn’t acknowledge the absolute shit that he was saying. By the end of the week, Louis had listed out all the leads, created a very impressive interactive map on the side of his cubicle, and filled out all necessary permits for the investigation. He hadn’t seen Nick around at all, not even by the coffee machine so he could ogle the new receptionist, Harry. 

Louis could potentially solve this case on his own, but he also knew that Nick had spent more time at the precinct and knew how to get what he wanted. So, despite his general hatred of all things Grimshaw, he sucked it up and went to go look for him. 

Of course, as he was walking by the office supply room, he heard two distinct giggles from inside. One was Harry’s, which he would know anywhere at any time, so Louis ducked in to see what was going on. Almost immediately he wished he hadn’t. Nick is on top of the copier with his pants around his thighs. He and Harry have matching looks of glee on their faces, while the copier spit out prints of Nick’s arse. Did he have no shame? People used that printer, their hands regularly touched that thing!

“Oi, thing 1 and thing 2! Could you stop acting like you’re in primary school for a minute? I need Nick.” At the sound of his name, Nick’s head whips up in surprise to meet Louis’ eyes. 

“Yes boss?” he replies. If Louis had a pence for every time Nick was sarcastic, he wouldn’t need his job. He wasn’t even struggling to pull up his pants, he was just sitting there on the copier comfortable as can be. 

“We need to talk about our game plan for next week.” Louis says. 

“I already told you, that case isn’t solvable. They actually gave it to us so we could twiddle our thumbs until the big bosses decide what to do with us.” Nick has the audacity to look annoyed at Louis. As if he purposefully strolled into the supply room just to spoil the fun he was having with Harry. Despite the fact that Louis _has_ done that in the past, many times, doesn’t mean it was what he meant to do today. 

With a huff, Louis snapped, “I’ve got a few things to look through next week, with or without you. As my assigned partner you are obligated to accompany me. Suck it up Grimshaw.” He leaves without even saying hello to Harry. It’s five minutes until the official end of the work day, Louis does not want to spend it in the company of Nick.

Once outside of the precinct, Louis pulls out his phone and texts Niall, _pints tonight?_

Within minutes, Niall texts back to him, _yea ! it’s with the lic tonight so bring your drinking game !_

It wasn’t the quiet night at the pub with Niall and Zayn that Louis was looking forward to, but it would have to do. If there were ever a possible group to make him feel inadequate with his tolerance, it was Niall’s group of Irish friends. Even Laura, the only one in the massive group who is smaller than Louis himself, can put away twice as many shots as he can. 

By the time Louis makes it to the pub, the entire crew is two pints in. He doesn’t bother trying to catch up, knowing it will benefit him in the long run. Niall jumps up to greet him, as if they don’t do this at least once every week. Usually Harry’s there to join them, but Louis was peeved enough by his association with Nick today that he just forgot to mention it to him. Niall’s presence is enough to get Louis’ mind off work and loosen up himself. 

Two hours later and Louis gets a call from Nick, the bastard can’t leave him alone for one damn weekend. He almost forwards the call, but drunken decisions are never the most rational. He answers with “What do you want, Grimshaw.” Louis can’t really tell but he hopes it came out bored and scathing. 

On the other end of the line, it’s silent for a second. Then, “Louis, are you drunk?”

“I knew you were a detective for a reason! You’ve finally deduced something correctly after all these years. I’ll make sure to bring a cake on Monday to celebrate.” Louis replies. Mostly he’s interested in the chips Bressie brought to the table while he was away. It looks like there’s cheese on them.

“Cake? Cheese? Mate look, that work you did with Emmerdale, it’s actually got a tangible lead. I think we need to meet up tomorrow to work on it. There’s something I didn’t see before and it could help us.” 

Nick sounds surprised. He sounds tired as well, but Louis is mostly offended that he sounds like he wasn’t expecting Louis to get anywhere. “What do you think I was doing with my weed? My week, I meant week. I’m going to need a huge brunch tomorrow and you’re going to take me out. ‘s what you get for ruining my Friday night,” Louis hiccups then. Hanging around with the LIC always means getting too drunk. “Fuck you Nicholas and good night, enjoy being a pretend detective by looking over the detective work I already did.” Louis wishes he had a flip phone so he could end the call dramatically, but he just ends up punching the end call button aggressively instead. 

Louis mumbles the entire way back to the table with cheesy chips, “What a loser. Can’t be arsed to work normal hours like the rest of us. Wanker.” 

“Who’s a wanker?” Niall asks, looking up with cheese hanging from the corner of his mouth. 

“Nicholas Grimshaw and that’s the last I’m speaking of him. I mean, unless you want to talk about him. I could probably insult him more if you’re interested.” Louis glances down at Niall, half hoping he is interested. It’s so fun to drag Grimshaw through the mud if he’s honest. 

“Your boner is showing, mate. Eat some chips and shut up.”

Louis quickly glances down at his crotch and sees _no_ boner, but eats cheese fries instead of protesting. The flush appearing on his face is incriminating enough. 

\--

Going to brunch is brutal. Louis is tempted to skip it altogether but he couldn’t bring himself to give up the opportunity to be smug to Nick. After all, he did spend all last week painstakingly working out a game plan for them. 

Nick is already at the table when Louis arrives, looking smug himself. His hair is in a big quiff, his shirt looks clean, and his socks would probably match if Louis looked close enough. “You can wipe that look off your face. Sweatpants are adequate in public on the weekend.” Louis says as he sits down. 

Nick isn’t phased at all, replying “I’m just pleased to see how the office’s biggest beauty queen lives on the weekend. It’s quite the opposite of glamorous I see.” 

Louis only has the brainpower to give him the middle finger before sinking into his chair and looking for the biggest plate of bacon and toast he can find. 

Midway through the meal, when Louis can manage more than glares and small talk, they finally get started. 

The Emmerdale crimes were a string of home burglaries that were called in within hours of each other. Louis heard it was jokingly named after Emmerdale the soap series because it was too crazy to believe. Each of eight victims reported a family heirloom stolen and nothing else. As far as anyone could tell, they had no connection to each other. Zero mutual friends, no shared grocery stores or gyms, and they all came from different professions. When police searched the places, there was no sign of forced entry, no stray DNA or fingerprints, and no witnesses. The only thing all victims had in common was that the stolen item was prominently displayed in their homes. Anyone walking by could’ve looked in a window and had the idea to steal it. 

When the case was handed over to detectives, the trail was almost cold. It was the first few months Louis joined up as a rookie. He remembers the captain shaking his head and saying the case was “difficult at best” and gave it to the precinct’s leading team. A few weeks of frantic work turned up absolutely nothing and the file collected dust in the storage room. 

“I can’t believe that arsehole gave us this case.” Nick says. "Cold cases are for detectives that can't tell up from down." He's on his second mimosa and Louis is getting so much enjoyment from seeing him this loose lipped. At work, Nick is too nice. No one actually cared about Mara’s third baby, but Nick seemed to. His level of friendliness couldn’t be genuine, and Louis hated having to witness it. 

“As much as I love hearing you talk shit, what did you say caught your eye?”

Nick’s face lights up, and he begins his spiel, “Well, you know how they all had completely separate careers? One was an accountant, the other ran a small business, whatever. The burglar must have done that on purpose. It’s actually possible to live your life and run into each of them separately. I think we could cross-reference the accountant’s and the insurance agent’s client list for our suspect.” 

Louis rolls his eyes, disappointed at Nick’s idea. “Don’t you think that’s already been done? No mutual clients, no connections. Even the stolen items were different.” Louis begins listing off the items on his fingers. “One Faberge egg, one ring containing emeralds and diamonds, one ancient samurai sword, one privately owned Picasso, the head of one terra cotta soldier, an Egyptian vase, a bayonet from the French revolution, and some fancy book circa the Enlightenment. Overall, some fuckin’ serious stuff.” 

Nick leans back, impressed. “I can’t believe you memorized that all. You’re really invested aren’t you?” 

“Of course I am. This case is going to make my career.” And Louis raises his eyebrows, as if daring Nick to contradict him. He hasn’t even told Harry how excited he is to solve this case, and here he is acting so confident in front of Nick. 

“Ok, so what did you have in mind for us to do next week?” 

This is the part Louis is most excited about. Getting to actually _do_ things. “I say we go to the people and tell them the investigation is being reopened. Then we can see if they have any additional information. You’re good with talking so that will come in handy.” Louis flushes a little, not wanting to compliment Nick too much, not wanting him to get a bigger head than he’s already got. “And if we have time, I’ve already gotten permits to look into seeing if these things were sold quietly and we didn’t see.”

“We should get Harry to look through all the possible items sold illegally and see if any of them match up. It’ll keep him busy.” Nick laughs a bit to himself, a small smile shown just to Louis. 

They continue figuring out their game plan throughout brunch. It’s nearly mid-afternoon by the time they leave, having spent the last half hour or so talking about things decidedly not work related. Louis learned that, of course, Nick doesn’t appreciate the great sport of football, but he thinks The Fray is a good band so he almost redeemed himself. Louis is generally embarrassing about his love for his family, but Nick takes it to a whole new level when he talks about his puppy. Who names their dog Puppy Power Forever, anyways? Louis leaves feeling generally optimistic about the coming week. With an experienced detective, he’ll be able to sort out all the work quickly and have the file closed by the end of the month. Hopefully.

\--

Sundays are for resting, no exception. To Louis, the perfect Sunday is waking up at ten or eleven, a bowl of Cocoa Puffs in front of the telly, and not leaving the house, unless the boys want to kick around the football later on. Niall is usually a great buddy to have on these days, since more often than not he stays over Saturday and has the same ideas about not doing a single thing. But Niall didn’t stay over last night, Harry did. Harry, who gets up early every morning to do yoga, who bangs around in the kitchen insisting he’ll make a full fry up. 

From the couch, Louis can hear another clatter and a muttered ‘fuck,’ and he’s about to get up and kick Harry out. He did not purchase his own place to have it disturbed by some curly haired monster who doesn’t understand the sanctity of Sunday. “Mate, you either hush up or get out. Not even your fried potatoes can save you,” Louis calls out to the kitchen. 

“Sorry!” Another loud crash. 

Louis suddenly remembers the very expensive glass dish he’s storing for his mother, which is just sitting out waiting for Harry to crush it with his bare hands, and gets up to save the kitchen disaster. The dish has been shoved in the corner haphazardly, bits of watermelon juice sprayed on it. “What did I tell you about that dish, Haz? Don’t fuckin’ mess with me, I can’t have that broken.” 

Harry’s at least got the decency to look sheepish, “I guess I got carried away. Plus, it’s just a dish right? I’ve seen tons like it down at Selfridges.”

Louis sighs, “Yes at _Selfridges_ , which I never step foot into because I probably can’t even afford to breathe in there. It’s for my aunt and it can’t break. Give it here.” He makes grabby hands for the dish, and once he has it, places is carefully and delicately in an empty drawer. 

“I still don’t understand why your mom can’t just take it, she should know by now that you probably aren’t the most dependable when it comes to breakable things. She’d better have insured it for all the trouble.” Harry is now slicing up avocado, which is _not_ an ingredient for a fry up, ever. Louis is getting suspicious. 

“Harry, only people with like, gold watches and fake boobs get their stuff insured. Don’t be daft. Why are you using avocado? Why is there no bacon?” Louis asks as he sneaks closer to the stove top. “Is that a fucking omelette? Sundays are not for omelettes.”

Harry quickly tries to cover up his entire workspace with his body, but the damage is done. Louis has seen everything. Watermelon, omelettes, orange juice, strawberries. A hippie breakfast then. “I just want you to try it! I made this for Nick and he loved it. C’mon Lou, at least keep an open mind.” 

“That’s because Nick is a fucking hipster who drinks nothing but Diet Coke and vodka when he can get away with it. But fine, I’ll eat your goat cheese omelette or whatever. But after this we are sitting on the couch, at least until you make me lunch later.” Louis sits up on the bench, intending to watch his every move. 

When they finally sit down for breakfast, Harry’s got a thoughtful look to him. It’s never a good look. It means he’s being oddly perceptive and uncomfortably reflective. The last time he looked like that Louis ended up having to return the Yorkshire Tea bags he stole from the precinct’s coffee room. Somehow he got guilted into it, issues of morality and, “People trust you to solve their crimes yet here you are committing one”. But today, what he says catches Louis completely by surprise. “So you and Nick were together for a while yesterday.”

Oh, that. “So what? We were talking about the case.” Louis’ shoulders are starting to hunch up and he can tell he’s getting defensive. There’s a pile of avocado sitting on the side of his plate, marinating in what’s left of the watermelon juice, so he’s keeping his eyes centered on it. 

“Well, all you ever talk about is how awful he is. Then yesterday, Nick and I had plans to look for a side table for my new apartment, and he was occupied practically the whole afternoon. It’s interesting, is all.” 

“Maybe I decided to tolerate his presence. Astonishingly, he’s quite bearable when he’s not trying to annoy the shit out of me.” Bearable, fun, same difference really. 

Harry seems to have caught on anyway, smirking a little. “So you _didn’t_ let on to the fact that you have a major boner for his detective skills? And he didn’t comment on the fact that every time you work with him, you’re crazy invested in the case? Unlike when you’re with Liam and just goof around and figure it out because of something you learned from Nick?”

Louis can’t believe Harry is purposefully using his best friend knowledge against him. He only told him about copying Nick’s tricks because everyone was congratulating him on catching a major criminal and he felt guilty that it was due to a tip he learned. Telling Harry had been the only way to relieve the weird feelings he got. “You know I only told you that in confidence. Nick is good at his job, that’s it.”

“And you wanna kiss him.” Harry drags out the word kiss, making him sound like a whiny baby in Louis’ opinion.

He gets up and storms off to the living room, plopping down on the couch. Yelling to the kitchen, he says “I expect you’ll clean everything up! Then join me on the couch, it’s Sunday!” And that was the end of that.

\--

Notifying all the victims turns out to be a fruitless chore. Nick and Louis personally went to each and every home to explain their case was being reopened. One after the other, they all said they had accepted the burglary and moved on with their lives. No one had any additional clues for them and they seemed quite uninterested in the whole thing. At one house, Nick and Louis didn’t even get offered any tea. Everyone always offers them tea. Never mind that it was the last house and Louis was already full up of tea. They were quickly ushered out of that house because their kids were due back from school and police would upset them unnecessarily. 

“Well that was a complete flop,” Louis says as they load into the car to head back to the office. 

Nick has been uncharacteristically quiet since the fifth house, and Louis depended on his charm more than anything to get everyone to open up. The car seems thick with something until Nick finally speaks up. “I think something is off. No one _cared_. If someone stole my mum’s old engagement ring off me, I’d be livid. And that thing isn’t worth anything more than a few hundred quid. Do you think maybe the people who did it bought their silence or something?” 

When Nick turns to Louis, he looks confused and frustrated, but Louis has absolutely no answers. All he can offer is a shrug and an eyebrow raise. “Well it’s on to step two,” Louis says, “Go back to the office and have Harry look up if any of the stuff was sold. We’ll figure something out.” 

Nick only rolls his eyes in an exasperated huff and drives them back to the precinct. 

\--

Harry finds nothing. He has methods that aren’t purely legal and he knows exactly who to ask for these types of things. So far, no one has even heard of the stolen items turning up. It’s day three of the reopened case and Louis is feeling a bit discouraged. The victims won’t help, the items weren’t sold, and Nick is being weirdly invested. It’s a two-day record that Nick hasn’t skipped out half an hour early. In fact, it’s Louis who has to break up their work at fifteen past five. They’re a fucking mess, and no one (bar Harry) will help them. 

Liam is working a case with a rookie, and Louis couldn’t be more upset. Usually they team up and haze the new detective together. It’s a tradition of sorts. But with the Emmerdale case, each and every person on the team is avoiding them, including Liam and his goddamn rookie. 

After the third time Louis has to drag Nick away from their endless list of possibilities, they run into Liam getting on the lift. He has the decency to sheepishly look at them and mumble out a _hi_. “Nicholas, did you hear that? I think our old pal Liam has deigned to acknowledge us,” Louis says, then turns to Liam, “Hello pal, I thought you’d quit your job with how little we’ve seen of you.”

Liam makes eye contact at the very least and responds, “You know it’s not personal, but I kind of have to. I’m working a case with someone completely new, I can’t drag them into the mess of a case that won’t be solved. No one in the office can sacrifice that. Sorry, mate.” 

Halfway through Liam’s quite pathetic excuse, Louis begins miming with his hand the universal talking hand motion. Nick catches on quite quick and joins in. Louis snaps, “Cut the crap, Payno. You owe me a pint on Friday night, with or without your shiny new partner. Now take us to the first floor, we are exhausted from doing _real_ police work. Right Nick?”

“Yes, right.” As the lift door opens to leave, Nick throws over his shoulder, “Sorry about Louis, he’s snippy with me too don’t worry.” Louis is outraged that Nick would sell him out like that, but he can’t respond because Nick is already out the door. 

“Him and his big mouth and bigger legs. He’s supposed to be on my side.” Louis can be petulant that his partner sold him out. He’s allowed. 

Liam, who now has switched from professional mode to fun mode, just says, “Yeah, I’m sure that’s not the only big thing about him.” He throws out one of his awful, full-faced wink, as if Louis couldn’t understand what he was saying. 

“Liam Payne, you have scarred me for life. I could have gone my whole life without thinking about the atrocity between Grimshaw’s legs. I must now go home and eat my feelings away.” Louis pauses and considers Liam, the ultimate traitor. “Well you can come along too if you want. Zayn’s trying out the new chicken curry recipe. It’s gonna be sick.” Liam practically beams and joins Louis, his eyes crinkling up so bad Louis isn’t sure he can see. 

Chicken curry and his favorite boys. Well aside from Niall, who has some weird rugby thing going on with Bressie. And Harry, who left half an hour early from work to get movie tickets for him and Nick. Apparently they’re checking out this new cafe that serves grass fed non caged chickens or whatever, then going to see some bullshit new Italian movie. _”It’s a_ film _Louis”_ he can hear Nick say to him in his head. 

They made these plans talking over Louis’ head as he dug through some public records. The moment he realized they were not actually inviting him, he’d gone to the bathroom and invited Zayn over for dinner. The best thing about being a government worker (other than weekends and holidays off, obviously) was that he earned a liveable wage. Meaning out of all his friends, he was the one who had a fully functional kitchen. Which he graciously let his friends use to their hearts’ content, as long as Louis got to eat. Zayn was usually a sure thing for getting him to come cook. Harry used to be, until Nick invited him over to his place once. From then on, he had to hear about how he had a _Kenwood_ juicer. Tesco juice sounded good enough to himself. 

\--

By Saturday, Louis is exhausted, again. All four of his sisters are coming down from Doncaster to visit him and he’s dealing with an annoying hangover. Niall had stayed over after the whole crew dispersed at the pub, and they’d continued the party well into the early morning. The only redeeming quality of Niall was that he could make the best bacon and egg sarnie, so he was allowed to stay. 

Lottie hasn’t stopped talking since she got off the train, and Louis has a newfound sense of respect for his mother. The Tomlinson’s talk up a storm on a good day. She’s talking a mile a minute about the perfect birthday gift Mom promised to get her, all the while the twins can’t stop asking what time they’re going to the zoo. Louis had agreed to host all his sisters at his place for the weekend ages before he found out he was assigned his impossible case. Now he’s kind of regretting it all. 

They arrive at the zoo all in one piece, and Louis couldn’t be more grateful. No one wants to see the reptiles, even though it’s his favorite section and right by the entrance. Instead they head over to the aquarium because Daisy just had a unit on the ocean at school and she wants to see jellyfish.

Louis loves hanging around with his sisters because they aren’t a thing like him, at least in the ways that count. They never get anything lower than a B in school—the twins got off the train carrying books they’re reading for enjoyment—and they are much more carefree and well-rounded than he ever was. His mum loves to brag about how her eldest is off solving crimes and being successful in London, but Louis knows that in a few years the girls will outshine him. 

He’s broken out of his stupor when a noisy pack of people come into the aquarium, their voices bouncing off the walls. Heading over to check out the sea stars with Fizzy, he sees someone familiar out of the corner of his eye. “Fuck,” he whispers. Lottie approaches him from behind and gives him a quizzical look. 

Before Louis can usher his small group out and hopefully to some remote area of the zoo, Nick catches his eye and his face flashes in recognition. Instead of nodding his head and concentrating on the tank in front of him like a normal person, Nick starts walking over to say hello. He turns to say something to the noisy pack that had come in, and it figures he’d be the twat to bring a group of adults to the zoo.

Thankfully the girls have wandered off to see something else by the time Nick approaches. He’s got a pleased smile on, which just won’t do. “Did you and your friends run out of garden party themes? Was the zoo your last option?” Louis doesn’t sneer, but it’s pretty close. 

For a second, Louis can see Nick’s face fall a bit, but it’s back to normal too quickly. Nick says, “What can I say, we like to enjoy London. No crimes against that. What brings you here?”

Louis looks around for his girls, but they went around the corner elsewhere. “I brought my sisters here. Fizzy is quite keen on aquatic life, and I thought it’d be a nice thing to do with them.” 

“Oh you have little sisters? That must be nice.” Nick doesn’t say it sarcastically, which surprises Louis. He sounds like he actually thinks it is really nice. If there’s one way to gain his appreciation, it’s by having an interest in his family.

“It is nice. All four of them are smarter than you could dream, and very kind.” He may puff out his chest a bit. His sisters are a pain, but they are more awesome than anything. 

Their conversation is interrupted by, “Nick! We’re going to see the penguins, come on!” 

Without even saying anything, Nick turns to them. But instead of leaving he calls out, “I’ll catch up with you later. Take a picture for me!” and turns back to Louis. “You mind if I hang out with you for a bit? The zoo is dead boring without kids.” 

And like, Louis sees this guy all week. He should be tired of him by now, right? Instead he just nods his head and goes to find the girls. 

It turns out they love Nick. Apparently his shoes are “way cool,” and they like his northern accent. He ends up going with them to the wallabies, then the camels, and by mid afternoon, they’re cooing at the sheep. Nick regales Phoebe and Daisy with tales about his uncle’s farm near Manchester, where he had to help with the animals. They love it and think he’s a true adventurer. Louis may be a little charmed, too. 

They get to the duck pond afterwards, and all go up as close as they can so they can see the ducks. By this time of the day, everyone’s energy is flagging a bit. Nick’s still ok, but his quiff is wilting, which Louis thinks is as good a signifier as anything. At work, he’s constantly fluffing it up, making sure it’s still got shape. But today it’s as if he doesn’t care, the ends are curling up and it’s flopping a bit to the side. Louis thinks it makes him look nicer, less self-absorbed. 

Nick’s stupid fucking hair causes the accident in the first place. He’d bent down to tie Daisy’s shoes—lazy girl, she’d learned months ago and was so proud to tell Louis all about it—and his hair was getting curlier on the top every time Louis looked at it. That makes Louis huff to himself because _of course_ Nick has nice hair underneath all that dreadful styling. Incidentally he doesn’t realize how close he’d gotten to the pond. With one misplaced step, he is splashing in right along with the ducks. Well, until they all quack at him and swim off to the furthest bank. 

Everyone within a ten meter radius is gaping at him and Louis is too shocked to do anything but sit in the muddy water. His jeans are ruined for the day, and there’s flecks of water trickling down his face. The twins start crying immediately, Fizzy looks to be torn between laughing and helping him, and Lottie is all the way by the aardvarks. Nick darts into action, pulling Louis up by his armpits as if he was eight. 

“Lou, are you ok?” Nick looks frantic. He’s bunching up his jumper at his hands and using it to dry up his face and then patting around randomly. By this time, Lottie has joined the group, looking quite delighted. Brat. “Girls, can you all go together to the shop we passed on the way here? It’s just a short walk. Get some trackies or some nice shorts for your brother please. We’ll follow right after you,” Nick is saying this while he digs into his jeans and pulls out a twenty pound note. 

Finally Louis speaks up, “Hey it’s cool, I’ll just dry these in the bathroom no big deal.” Nick just gives him a withering look, the one he’s perfected when Louis starts reciting the Right to Silence spiel to a criminal and the cops haven’t even put them in cuffs. Instead he just keeps quiet, grateful that there’s someone there to focus on rather than dwell on his awful clumsiness. 

They slowly head over to the gift shop. Nick is politely ignoring Louis’ squelching shoes; his arm is wrapped around his shoulder as if he thinks Louis is going to wander off and find another pond to jump into. He can tell people around them are wondering how he got so wet, and it’s beyond embarrassing. 

The girls are buzzing around the shop, a pair of khaki shorts with an embroidered patch on the bum. It’s an awful colorful patch screaming London Zoo with animals around it. Louis grabs them and races to the toilets to change. Wringing his sopping wet jeans out over the sink, he is aware of the guy at the toilet who isn’t even pretending to not be staring. Wanker.

He heads out of the shop and sees his girls nowhere. What if Nick was actually a kidnapper? God, he just left his sisters with a strange man. Nick isn’t a criminal type, but then the worst ones always seem innocent. He’s ripped out of his panic when he hears, “Lou! Over here!” His head snaps to the voice and sees all five of his group at an ice cream stand. 

“Fizzy says you like chocolate best, so that’s what I got you,” Nick says as he hands over a big cone to Louis. “Sorry about your fall into the pond, even if it was really funny.” 

Louis just punches him, after safely getting his cone from him of course. “I think I got bit by a brave duck, my bum has a bite mark in it.” He turns around to point to it, even though the mark isn’t visible. Turning back around, Nick quickly draws his eyes back up, looking a bit pink. Good, his bum deserves the appreciation. 

“Ew, Louis! Don’t talk about your bum, that’s rude!” Daisy squeals. She’s got her hands up over her eyes and Phoebe is mirroring her. It’s adorable, really. 

“Grimmy! You missed it. The monkeys grabbed at Rita, it was hilarious!” Louis turns around to see a girl with a severe bun and bright red lipstick yelling at them. She looks absolutely delighted that a friend of hers was harassed by an animal. 

“Aimee dear, _you_ missed it. Louis here fell in the duck pond and got bit. It was marvelous!” Grimmy replies, looking gleeful that his friend got harassed by an animal as well. It is a bit funny now that Louis is dry and has ice cream in his hands. 

One or two people in the group are staring curiously at Louis, but the rest of them look disinterested and start wandering off. Aimee raises a frighteningly sharp eyebrow at Nick and says, “Oh, this is Louis?” Then she shifts her interest to Louis, “Hi, I’ve heard so much about you. Grim here doesn’t stop gushing over you on margarita nights. I feel like we’ve known each other forever.” She’s got an American accent, like straight out of the movies. Louis immediately likes her; she obviously gains as much enjoyment from torturing Nick as he does. 

Nick is next to Louis, groaning in mortification. “It’s ok Nick, I’m quite remarkable. I completely understand that you want to gush over me,” Louis turns to him, smug as can be. 

The girls had started playing on the grass, but soon enough Louis hears some crying. Fizzy runs over saying, “Lou, Daisy is getting nasty with everyone. She skipped her nap and she’s being a baby.”

“Annnd that’s my cue to leave! Goodbye everyone. Aimee, we must meet again to discuss all embarrassing things about Nick. And thanks for handling the whole pond thing,” Louis mentions as he looks up at Nick. He winks at him, then he’s off. Thankfully, going home to nap and order some takeaway. That’s what big brothers do, anyways.

\--

With all the shit piling up at work, Louis is a little high strung. He’s going around the office annoying everyone when he’s not chasing dead ends in the case. Nick had been much more personable after they met at the zoo, but with the way Louis is acting he’s getting quicker to annoy. All in all, everything is a mess and Louis physically can’t stop. 

Today, he has completely switched around the tea bags in the kitchenette. It’s a bit of harmless pranking and gets his mind off of everything. Unfortunately, Ted from the IT corner does not seem to like chamomile. Louis figures he was having too much caffeine, anyways. He gets a bit of a telling-off from Ted, but really it means nothing. 

Nick corners him fifteen minutes before the end of the day. “You’re coming out with me for drinks tonight, okay?” 

“Are you telling me you want to get drunk on a Thursday?” Louis asks, fakely appalled. “I’m in.”

He doesn’t see Nick at first when he walks into the bar, but he does see Aimee. The severe bun is gone, but her nails look like fucking claws, making her presence as awe inspiring as it was at the zoo. She smiles like a shark when she sees Louis, bright orange lipstick and orange eyeliner to match. Louis loves this woman, it looks like she could snap a guy in half with just a glance. 

Aimee greets him looking pleased, which Louis counts as a win. “Nick is outside having a smoke.” Then she gestures to the guy next to her, “This is Ian, he’s mine so point your attention elsewhere tonight. What do you drink?” 

Louis has a lot more fun than he would have thought. Aimee is definitely one of the unbearable hipsters he’d included with Nick’s friend group, but she’s sharp and funny and probably earns more money than Nick and Louis combined, if her Chanel purse and Rolex watch were anything to go by. Ian is really friendly, Nick boasts he’s the “laddiest” of the group, so he’s a breeze to get along with. 

Nick separates them at some point in the night, dragging Louis with him to have a dance. They’re just drunk enough that Louis can let loose and move. “Aimee terrifies me, she’s amazing,” Louis says after the first song. 

“Oh she’ll definitely be pleased to hear that,” Nick responds. “Maybe you two should hang out more often. You’re a proper menace and she could definitely put you in your place.” 

Louis throws his head back and cackles, “Oh no, we’d just spend the entire time telling each other embarrassing things you do!”

“Forget I said anything.” 

Nick moves closer, leading them into actual dance steps, hips moving in time, Nick’s hands on Louis’ waist. It feels nice to do this, Louis hasn’t properly gone out since the beginning of the case. They don’t talk about the case all night. Louis sees Nick’s face open and happy, and he wonders why he hasn’t seen it like that before. He thinks he probably just wasn’t looking close enough.

Nick puts him in a cab at the end of the night, and the last thing Louis thinks of before he goes to bed is the warm hand that had rested on his hip almost the entire night. 

\--

A couple of weeks later, Louis and Nick are probably even further from solving their case than ever. All the evidence was useless. Interviews turned up nothing. They checked out known serial robbers and none of their signatures were involved with the crime. Louis gets out of bed dreading work, which has never happened before. His boss is always giving just him and Nick considering looks, like he’s looking for them to give up. Liam is still with the rookie, working on their second case together. Everyone is moving on, but Louis is stuck. He’s looking in places others have looked tirelessly. Now it’s easy to understand how some people dedicate their life to looking at Van Gogh paintings or whatever. There’s always something new for Louis to look into, only to find a dead end. 

Monday morning finds Louis taking a detour to work because of some road work on the main roads, _of course_. It’s not like the city could plan out things to be _convenient_ for its citizens. He’s on a side street that probably classifies itself as more of an alley, which is why he didn’t see the stop sign and nicks the front bumper of another car. It fucking figures. 

The girl getting out of the car to inspect the damage doesn’t look mad at least. She looks up at Louis when he approaches and chirps, “Hello, good morning!” In fact, she seems pleased to get a dented bumper early on a Monday morning. Louis is a bit dumbfounded, so she continues. “Guess you didn’t see me, eh? Now my entire bumper needs to be redone, shame.” Except she didn’t mean it, she was grinning.

“Um, I’m really sorry about your car,” Louis thinks maybe she’s just acting nice because she feels the opposite right now, and he doesn’t want to make her lose it. “I will cover the damage and everything, I just didn’t see you.”

“Don’t you even worry about it! I have been needing a new paint job on this girl for ages, now I can finally get it done.”

Is this the Twilight Zone? Did Louis wake up this morning or is he still in a dream? “Sorry?” He doesn’t think he’s heard the woman correctly.

“Oh, my insurance is awful when I want a new paint job, but they will cut me a nice cheque for bumper damage. It’s hardly a scratch,” That was a lie, there was at least a dent in there somewhere. “Plus I’ll probably have some left over. ASOS will take that, if I’m honest.” 

So she’s happy because she finally gets insurance money. Which makes sense to Louis on a basic level. But he also understands insurance fraud, because it’s unlawful. “Ma’am, I’m not sure that’s purely legal.”

But in front of him, the woman looks nonplussed. “Eh, what’s the big deal, I’m paying them to protect my car, that’s what it’s for. Gotta enjoy it, yeah?” She winks at him then continues, “I’m not going to involve the police or file a claim against you, don’t worry. I’ll just say it happened in a car park or something and I didn’t see who it was.”

This comes as a relief to Louis, God knows he can’t afford another blemish on his driving record. It’s kind of awful as it is, and even worse since he’s technically police himself. “Wow, that’s really kind of you, thank you. I appreciate it.”

The woman just replies, “Don’t mention it, thanks for the crash. Matte black, here I come!” Then she’s off, getting inside her car and rumbling down the alleyway he just came from. 

“What. The. Fuck.”

It doesn’t hit him until Nick has taken too long to brew their tea. He’s probably goofing around with Harry. It annoys him for about half a second, and then his mind just halts. Insurance. That’s the fucking answer. Harry mentioning he should insure that glass bowl, that woman taking the money from her insurance company. 

Louis is so busy looking for any other explanation that he doesn’t notice Nick setting his tea down. He also doesn’t hear the first two times Nick pointedly clears his throat. But he does feel the harsh nudge against his shoulder. “What the fuck Grimshaw, I’m doing something here.” And when Louis looks up, Nick’s face is ashen and his eyebrows are knit together. “Wait, what’s wrong?” He didn’t look like that when he left.

“The big boss just talked to me. He said we were being unproductive in our work and he is reassigning us within the week.” Louis has never heard Nick sound so lifeless before. It’s actually quite scary.

The words finally process in his brain, his face screwing up to say, “What, like, to another case?”

Nick just shakes his head a bit, pressing his lips together and making his chin get all dimply. If Louis didn’t know any better, he’d say Nick was trying with his life not to cry. “No, like within another department.”

No. Not when Louis just figured it out. 

“Nick, I got the answer though. I know how to solve this. We can prove him wrong.” He’s frantic. This case was supposed to get them promoted, now he doesn’t even have the time to gather evidence. 

“I’m going home for a nice soak in the bath. I suggest you be kind to yourself and do the same.”

“Listen to me!” Louis could explode. Nick can’t honestly be sapped just like that, he can’t just nod his head and accept this.

The quiff droops with every shake of Nick’s head as he says, “I’ve _been_ listening to you, Louis. Everything you say. Nothing fucking works and I am tired of listening to you.” With a quick about face, he’s gone. 

“Well then screw you, too,” Louis mutters to himself. 

If Louis only has a week to complete his investigation, then he's going to make it the most productive week ever. He only has about two hours left of the workday to hand in his requests for the victims' insurance pertaining to the case. If he can find the claims, and prove that these people got sizable sums for their “stolen” valuables, then he can start building the case.

Running over to Harry's post at the front of the office sheds some of his frenetic energy. Harry looks up from a Sudoku puzzle, green eyes huge and fixed on Louis. Once he recognises that it's Louis, they start watering a bit. “Lou, I'm so sorry about what happened. Maybe you'll like something more than this though? It could be a good thing.”

Waving Harry's concern away with a flourish of his hand, Louis replies, “Don't worry about a thing. I've solved the case!”

After a few seconds, Louis was at least expecting some kind of reaction. Some congratulations or a smile or something. But Harry just keeps sitting there, unblinking. Finally he says, “I know it's hard to accept reality man, but you can't just grasp at straws to hold onto your position. Coming up with something just because your arse is on the line isn't professional.” He looks so concerned for Louis, as if he's looking at a dog about to be put down. Which, Louis supposes is kind of what he is.

“I'm a fucking healthy dog, Harry. Don't give me that look.” Thankfully, Harry lets the dog comment slip. It made more sense in his head. “I actually know what happened. Insurance fraud. That's why those twats didn't have anything to tell us. That's why we haven't gotten anywhere.”

Harry interrupts, seeing that Louis is getting a bit too worked up, “So you're saying there was no robber? Don't they like check for this kind of stuff? Insurance fraud is like _really_ difficult to get away with.”

“That's the thing, Haz, they all planned it. I don't know how, but they got together and decided to make it look like a robbery for all of them so it wouldn't be an isolated thing. Genius, really. Had us looking for a crook when they were standing right in front of us crying.”

“So what does Nick think about all this then?”

And that's the thing that Louis tried not to think about for the last hour. His partner left him. The first rule ever of detective work was to never abandon your partner. It stung double because it was Nick. Nick gave up so easily on Louis. At the first sign of loss, he didn't even think about Louis. That stung a lot. A few weeks ago, they were at the zoo with his sisters. They'd left work on Friday and had a drink down at the pub without Harry.

Rationally, Louis knew it was more cowardice on Nick's part, but he took Nick's giving up personally. As if he wasn't an adequate enough partner to stick around for until the bitter end. “Nick thinks nothing of this, he is at home bathing. I'm not continuing this investigation with him.” Louis left before Harry could catch how upset he was about that, but the way Harry was calling out for him let him know he'd seen it.

\--

It takes about three hours at his apartment to work up his anger enough to go over to Nick’s and yell at him. He’s not answering his phone, and texts don’t convey the right amount of frustration Louis wants. Zayn is hanging out with him, being oddly cheerful. He even made Louis dinner. But nothing could stop him from thinking about Nick. He was still preoccupied by the case, of course, yet it seemed a lot less pressing than making sure Nick knew just how badly he fucked up. Or like, seeing Nick look semi-normal again, whatever. He won’t admit that seeing Nick so broken down was a bit too much for him.

So he’s stood on Nick’s porch at nine PM, hoping that he opens the door within the next century. But what greets him five minutes later isn’t Nick, it’s another guy. He’s tall and dark and ridiculously good looking, and he looks like he’s leaving. He stops in surprise at Louis, saying “Uh, hi.” Then after a quite awkward pause, he turns to Nick who is apparently somewhere behind him. “You couldn’t have at least waited ‘til i was gone to call another dude? I don’t know if that’s a really low blow for me, or pretty impressive for you. Next time you call, make sure you aren’t double booking, yeah?”

Then he’s off, love bites dotting his neck and chest, too loose limbed for the situation to be anything other than what Louis was assuming. Nick is standing stunned at the door, eyes wide. Louis can’t tell whether he’s surprised at his new visitor, or mortified by his hook-up thinking Louis is next. 

Louis starts, “Number one: you’re an absolute wanker. Number two: who the fuck leaves their partner just as they reveal they have solved a case? Number three: that dude is probably never calling you again. Number four: good riddance; he was totally out of your league.” Nick is smart enough to step aside and silently let him in, rather than continue this all out on the street. 

It’s immediately obvious why Harry spends so much time over here. It’s cosy, but stylish. Well, cosy if you’re the type of person to feel at ease with taxidermied butterflies framed on the wall, or musty old records in the corner. Louis can’t help but look around and appraise everything. 

Sighing from the doorway, Nick says, “What are you doing here, Louis?”

“I fucking know what happened in the case, so you you can quit on your partner but not until next week when we’re properly celebrated.” He says it all in a rush to get it all out. Nick seems to understand at least.

“Ok so what did you figure out, then?” It’s not asked with interest, but instead as if Nick just wants to get this over with. 

“I don’t know what your problem is, but just know I’m ignoring it because I am too excited to care.” Louis wanders over to the stark white couch. He’s about to continue, but hears a small bark coming from a closed door. “Is there a dog imprisoned in your home?”

Nick rolls his eyes, and goes over to let out his dog. “This is Puppy,” he says.

The dog runs around Louis’ feet, so excited to meet someone new. “I forgot you named your dog Puppy. You really couldn’t come up with something better?”

“We’ve had this conversation before. Her full name is Puppy Power Forever, but that takes too long to get out.”

Everything about Nick is screaming ‘sad, tired ex-detective with only his dog to love,’ but Louis is kind enough not to point that out. Besides, he’s not even an ex-detective yet. “It wasn’t a robber. All those things didn’t show up selling because nothing was sold. I’m one hundred percent positive that all these so-called victims just committed insurance fraud. I don’t know how they did it, but I checked and they all made claims for their stolen items and got money for it.” Louis takes a file folder out of the bag he brought with him, and hands it over to Nick.

After a few minutes of silently looking through it, Nick looks over at Louis with wonder in his eyes. Louis was jolted out of his reverie, which mostly included admiring the slope of Nick’s nose, and counting his freckles, and for the first time noticing that Nick is an actual person who sits on his couch and has people over. “Why was this never investigated before?” Nick questions. 

It’s something Louis asked himself as well, and the only explanation he could think of was, “These people weren’t connected. It looked like a genuinely coordinated burglary. And when questioned, they didn’t even know each other. These people were doctors and teachers, it seemed legitimate.”

Nick cracks a smile that grows wider by the second and pretty soon he’s laughing. Louis joins in because this is the biggest stressor lifted right off his shoulders. “Then that’s that, isn’t it. Fuck, Louis you’re brilliant.” 

It warms him up in a strange way. Then he thinks about his work day, how everyone in the office was _still_ too busy to help out a useless cold case so he was forced to work over all his stuff alone. It still angers him that Nick hadn’t even spared a thought about Louis. “You are such a bad partner though. You couldn’t even stay to listen to me when I’d told you I’d solved the case earlier in the day. I had to work all day alone. Do you know what a pain in the arse it is to collect all this information? You just left,” The last sentence was spoken quietly, mostly because Louis was saying it just for himself. To remind himself that Nick wasn’t present. 

Louis can’t see Nick because he’s focusing very intently on petting Puppy. But he feels Nick shift closer to him on the sofa. “Lou, I’m really sorry about that. I was so fucked up about losing my job, I couldn’t think about anything else. But that’s not an excuse, and I understand if you want to continue without me.”

“That is not what I mean and you know it. But now you get to do all the paperwork. I think I can feel my hand hurting for the next month,” Louis replies. “Oh, and I get to tell all the people that they are being arrested.”

“You know that is my favorite part, how dare you!” Nick looks outraged. But Louis can tell they’re going to be fine. It will be fine. 

\--

When they walk into work the next day, Liam greets them in the lift. His eyebrows shoot up and he looks a little smug. “So you guys finally shagged then? It’s about time. I was starting to think Mara would win the bet.”

Louis knows him and Nick have twin smiles plastered on their face, but after that comment his slides right off. “What do you mean a bet with Mara?” he demands. “We have most definitely not been shagging.”

Liam stops looking so smug, which Louis counts as a win, then explains, “Well, we kinda had a pool going on to see how long it would take for you guys to shag? And I wagered it’d be by the end of this case? Mara figured you’d never get it together. So….”

Nick starts laughing as if it’s the funniest thing to hear on a Tuesday morning. “Well it looks like Mara is going to win, Payne. Louis here hates me so it’s never going to happen.” 

“You guys are both definitely wrong. I haven’t shagged Nick yet _and_ I don’t hate him.” Louis speaks up in order to prove his point.

The lift dings up to their floor as Nick is saying, “You don’t hate me?” and Louis is blushing a bit. Liam has the grace to hurry out, but not before muttering something that sounds like _Mara is most definitely not winning._

“Of course I don’t hate you, Grimshaw, get it together.” Then after a small pause, “Fuck! We completely forgot to rub it in Liam’s face that we solved the case.”

\--

Two weeks and one very frightening meeting with the big boss later, Louis and Nick are at the first house to do their arrest. Well, they have actual cops to do the arrest, but Louis gets to tell them and that’s all that matters. It’s the house with the head of the terracotta warrior, which Louis was most interested in. How does one even inherit a clay head made thousands of years ago? They arrest the man, while his wife tries valiantly to reason with Nick. It’s a bit heartbreaking, but they also did something very illegal, so. 

They do four arrests over two days and it’s exhilarating. The Faberge egg always fascinated Nick the most, so they do it last and Louis allows him to arrest the woman. He’s ecstatic. It’s a bit unprofessional the way Nick gleefully informs her that she is being arrested for insurance fraud. 

He gets so caught up that he starts reciting her Right to Silence. “"You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention-”

“Nicholas Grimshaw, _you_ have the right to remain silent,” Louis snaps. “Let the kind police officers do their job.” 

In a week or two they have all the so-called stolen items. Louis hasn’t seen so many beautiful things in one place before. Nick is immediately drawn to the Picasso, which Louis admits is really cool. It’s like they hit the jackpot, at least for one day. Eventually, it’s going to all get locked up until it can be returned after the trials.

Apparently all eight of them had met on an internet forum, discussing collectibles. No one knew of that connection because their browsing history hadn’t been looked over. The mounting evidence of this being a meticulously planned con will make their case rock solid. Louis couldn’t be happier. 

Nick invites Louis out for celebratory drinks and everything is going splendidly. A few drinks in, Louis’ tongue is loose enough to blurt out, “You’re a fucking menace, but I’m glad it was you who was with me on this case.” He hiccups. “It’s a good thing you weren’t transferred; you’re far too attractive to be a pencil pusher.”

“You think I’m attractive?” Nick is preening a little bit under the praise.

“Shut up Nicholas. I’m being honest here, let me get this out. You’re a fucking brilliant detective and it’s not fair you’re also a good human, too. I hate you.”

Nick turns up his lips into a small private smile and Louis just leans in and kisses him. Because they were about to be transferred out of their careers. Because Nick looks at him like he’s the sun. And mostly because Louis wants Nick to understand what he isn’t saying. “I hate you, too,” is what he responds with after they part. Louis thinks Nick understands. 

\--

Harry and Liam are waiting for them when they get off of the lift the next day. They’re both beaming and holding up a cake. Nick gets closer to it and reads aloud, “Congratulations on solving your case! And, in parenthesis, and the sex too.”

Louis crows out, “Sucks for you guys because we didn’t have sex last night!” Serves them right.

Nick then butts in, “Yeah only because you were drunk and you said you wanted to be able to remember it in the morning.” 

Harry whoops out a thrilled laughter and Liam’s face is crinkling again with his smile. What donuts. People in the office catch on to what happened and come by to congratulate them. When everyone had heard about the case being solved, they just stopped ignoring Nick and Louis. No congratulations there. The people in this office were way too invested in Louis’ personal life. 

\--

 

“So is this like our first date or something?” Louis is sat in a small Italian restaurant with Nick. When it was first suggested they go out, Louis insisted they go to the most awful indie place Nick knew of. Apparently this place makes their own pasta from organic wheat and the pasta sauce is responsibly made, sourced from local farmers. It’s positively awful, but it also makes Louis happy that he gets to see a bit more of Nick’s life. 

“Well, yes Louis. You called me yesterday and declared we were going on a date. So I think this very well counts.” The amusement in Nick’s voice is noticeable. Mostly Louis wanted to hear it confirmed. 

He smiles down at his menu and focuses on what to choose. “Oh my God,” Louis mutters, “‘handmade whole grain bow tie pasta sauteed in butter sauce with a side of fresh local asparagus.’ Amazing this restaurant hasn’t imploded over and over again because it has its head stuck so far up its ass.” Which is when the waitress comes by for their drink order. Her eyes are wide, but she’s polite enough to pretend she hadn’t heard that. 

She leaves, and Nick starts cackling. When he finally has to catch his breath, he breathes out, “Your face! I want to watch you embarrass yourself on a daily basis. That was great!”

“You laughing at my embarrassment is not very romantic, Nicholas,” Louis says, once he can get a word in. He’s flipping his fringe away from his head as a nervous tick. Harry had come over two hours before the date to help Louis get ready. He saw Nick every day at work, but this was different. Somehow, he had to be _different_. There had been an actual conversation about the pros and cons of rolling his jeans up over his ankles. Harry had sworn secrecy for the entire ordeal. But, he was also allowed to gloat for five minutes to get it out of his system. Apparently, everyone knew Louis’ admiration for Nick extended far beyond his professional skills before he did. 

“So sorry. From now on, we will be strictly romantic.” He begins perusing his menu, and rubbing his foot over Louis’ legs.

“What the fuck!” Louis exclaims. “Rubbing me with your shoe is _not_ romantic.” Nick just changes tactics, softening his face and pushing his lips out. “Is that supposed to be attractive?” After Nick hasn’t stopped, Louis gives up, “Ok please stop trying to be romantic, you’re freaking me out.” 

“Ok just one more though.” Grabbing Louis’ hands in his, he holds on tight and stares intensely into his eyes. 

“Stop, I can’t take it anymore!” They’re both laughing and Louis can’t remember a first date he ever had that was this fun. 

After dessert has come and gone, Louis just goes for it and asks, “So your place or mine?” That’s his usual tactic when he’s at a club, no reason for it to not work here. But he’s also never been so nervous to ask either. 

Nick coughs up some of the coffee he’d been drinking. “Warn me next time, yeah? Uh, well Puppy is sleeping over at Aimee’s tonight. I mean, I wasn’t expecting anything, but-”

“Your place it is,” Louis quickly interrupts.

\--

Nick tries to offer Louis a drink before they’ve made it into the door. All Louis says is, “Nick if we don’t make it into your bedroom within the next minute I am quitting on this date.” It gets him shown to the bed very quickly. 

It’s overwhelming being in Nick’s room, beside Nick’s bed, about to have sex with Nick. Everywhere smells like him, and he’s feeling anxious. But once Nick starts kissing him, he forgets why he was so worried. It gets super heated super fast as they fight for dominance in the kiss, but eventually Nick takes over. It feels so nice Louis almost forgets what’s happening. 

His shirt is eased over his head, then thrown away. Louis tries doing the same, but Nick has no patience and takes his own off. Soon they’re down to their pants and Nick is pushing him on to the bed. He scoots up to the pillows, watching Nick crawl towards him. Louis wants so badly to lay him out and get a good chance to feel him because he’s so wonderful. Tonight however, it’s too frantic and he just wants to get as close as possible, _right now_. 

Nick bends down to start kissing him again then trails the kisses down to his neck. It’s always been a sensitive spot for Louis and he gasps out a breath. 

By now Louis can feel their cocks hard against each others’ hips and it’s driving him crazy. “Nick, please,” he gasps out, “do something for god’s sake.” 

With a glint in his eye, Nick holds eye contact with Louis as he drags his pants down and off his legs. He begins pressing kisses to his hip, then lower until he reaches his inner thigh. It feels fucking fantastic and Louis lets out a frustrated groan that it’s nowhere near his cock. 

Nick spreads his thighs further apart until he’s open for him. Licking down past his thighs, he gets to Louis’ hole. It’s been ages since he’s been eaten out, so when Nick finally licks his rim it drives him crazy. He wraps his fingers in Nicks’ hair and pushes him down. “Please,” he whimpers.

With the encouragement, Nick doubles his efforts. His tongue is deliberate, licking over his hole repeatedly. When he finally penetrates him, Louis’ back curves up and spreads his legs further. All he can gasp out is _fuck_ and _god_ and _Nick_. His tongue feels so good, and Louis is on the edge already. He can feel Nick’s stubble rubbing against his thighs and it’s so much. 

“I’m close Nick, please,” Louis pants out.

Stopping for a second, Nick asks, “Can you get the lube? It’s in the top drawer.” 

Louis has never moved his arm so quickly. He digs around for a moment, then feels something metal. He pulls it out to look and he’s confronted with a pair of handcuffs. “What the fuck is this?” he demands. 

Blushing a little, Nick says, “Well it’s quite obviously handcuffs. Sometimes I like a bit of excitement.” He looks a bit nervous.

“Bringing your work home with you? We’re going to definitely explore this later.” Throwing a bottle of lube to Nick, he then discards of the handcuffs and settles in again. He winks up at Nick and smirks. 

Nick quickly slicks his fingers up and pushes one into Louis. He groans and throws his head back, all bravado thrown out the window. Nick’s fingers are so _long_. When Louis does this himself it takes forever to get the angle right. But Nick pushes his finger around and immediately finds the spot that makes him crazy. 

“Please, fuck me Nick,” Louis can’t think of anything he wants more. His cock hasn’t even been touched tonight and he feels on fire. He’s so ready to take Nick.

But Nick just regretfully shakes his head. “Sorry love, I’m out of condoms. But here, since you’re so polite,” He leans down, finger still rhythmically thrusting into him, and takes Louis’ cock into his mouth. It’s so good, Louis can feel his orgasm coming. He’s taken him about halfway down, tonguing the underside. When Louis looks down, Nick looks beautiful. His mouth is stretched around his cock, his eyelashes are brushing the tops of his cheeks, and his skin is a slightly pink color. All the sensations combined to force his orgasm to rush over him. “Nick- fuck, I’m coming!”

Nick doesn’t pull off, swallowing Louis until he deflates onto the bed. He pulls his finger out and wipes it on the bedspread, resting Louis’ cock on his stomach. The look in his eyes is frenzied, like he’s about to come himself. Louis beckons him up forcibly positioning his knees under his armpits. 

Louis gets his lips around the crown of his dick, licking the slit. Nick gets fucking wet apparently and he doesn’t taste half bad. Soon, Nick is moving his hips minutely to spur him on. Louis pulls off and says, “You can fuck my mouth, if that’s a thing you want to do.” Then reattaches his mouth to Nick’s cock. Above him, he can hear a lot of swearing, then a gasp as Louis takes him almost to the base. When he moves back up, he looks at Nick to give him a look he hopes is saying ‘please fuck my mouth’. 

Nick manages about five thrusts before he warns Louis he’s about to come. Resting his mouth on the head, Louis swallows all of Nick’s load, suckling at the tip ‘til he’s finished. 

After they both get cleaned up courtesy of a wet flannel Nick produces, they get under the sheets and have a cuddle. Louis feels happier than he has in a while. He burrows himself as close to Nick as physically possible. Once they’re both comfortably drifting off, Louis bites down onto the meat of Nick’s pec. He squawks out a _fuck_ , and Louis just holds onto Nick tighter so he can’t be pushed away. Now he can sleep peacefully.


End file.
